Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Cowboy Bebop in any sense, and simply watch and write about it for my own pleasure and entertainment to hopefully bring the same to others.
Tiger Eyes
By Crystal Delphina
Completed: October 22, 2006
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He gave a small smirk as he saw the victim of her bitterness sleeping next to a discarded black marker. Poor dog would be stuck with the hideous black brows until they got around to washing him later in the week - If they got around to washing him later in the week. Washing the dog was typically last on the Bebop crew's list of priorities, and only rocketed to the top of the list when the stench became unbearable. And he could say with confidence that despite it being Faye's handiwork, it would be the hyperactive red haired girl that would be forced into cleaning up the mess.
He stepped past the vandalized canine to continue down the stairs of the den, loud thuds echoing in the room as his boots struck the metal of the stairs with each step. Ambling to the pale yellow couch that stood in the center of the room, he leaned over the back of it to peer down at the other occupant of the room. Sleeping beauty was stretched out on the musky couch, arms dangling over the armrest that her head was propped up on and feet trying to dig into the corner where the cushions met in attempts to keep out any chill. An opened six-pack of black permanent markers happened to be on the coffee table, one conveniently missing.
I have a story for you.
"You didn't actually love that boring and pathetic bag of flab did you?" Disregarding the fact that she appeared to be sleeping, his deep voice filled the room.
Eyes remained shut as she responded simply with, "Why do you care?"
"I don't. I was just curious to know if you were so pathetic that you could only hook up with a loser like him," he answered with a snort.
A story of a young girl who was placed into a deep sleep after a nearly fatal accident. A sleep that would last for fifty years. A sleep that would change her forever.
He was slightly surprised when she slowly opened her eyes and peered up at him through her dark eyelashes. Dark green pools, a darker green than he had even seen in hazes of passion, stared at him… no they looked past him, completely ignoring the man in front of her to dwell on the memory of another man. He was unsure of what he saw in the emerald depths and didn't particularly feel as if he really wanted to know. It unnerved him to think that he may be seeing raw emotions in the eyes of the usually jaded and apathetic young woman.
"He was all I had...," she said slowly, letting the words hang in the air. Time passed without another word from either of them, gazes locked and figures frozen in place. When it became apparent that he was unwilling to look away or leave her be, she pulled herself up and off the couch in one fluid movement. "He was the only one willing to care."
The young girl awoke fifty years later to find that she was now a young woman in a much different world. And try as she might, the girl could not remember the world she had lived in before.
She walked towards the door leading to the main cabins of the ship. A small hiss accompanied its sliding open as she ducked down to make it through the low doorway. Before she could fully step through, she mumbled bitter words that were heard loud and clear by the other individual who still stood half way across the room.
"He was the only one that has ever seemed to care..."
And he was upon her in a split second. She was unclear as to whether he had run around the couch and coffee table, or had merely leapt over both, but either way his speed had been ungodly.
"Don't start throwing yourself a damn pity party. So you ran into your old boyfriend? So what?" he said harshly, managing to jerk her back into the den by her elbow and giving her a small shake. Fingers tightly dug into the soft flesh of her arm, and even after he had successfully halted her escape, the grip did not loosen.
"I could care less that I saw him you jackass!" she snapped, trying to break his hold on her by pulling her arm away. The movement proved useless as his grasp only tightened and he used her own momentum from struggling to pull her towards him. "What I care about is that one of my few leads is once again a dead end!"
"What does it matter?"
Her eyes blazed in fury at his casual dismissal of her predicament, and she gave a small snarl when he shrugged his shoulders.
She was not surrounded by loving friends and family in her home, but instead awoke in a cold sterile castle where an evil scientist and his assistant lived. They said the young woman owed them her life.
"Did you even bother to hear that quack of a doctor? He fucking picked my name because he happened to like a song. Valentine is not even my own name! I have no clue who I really am! Everything I've ever done since I left that god-damned facility was working to pay off my debts and to figure out who I really am!"
Her fists were balled at her sides, ready to punch him if necessary, and she panted slightly from the exertion and frustration caused by shouting at the bane of her existence. He, however, stood there calmly observing her. Although she may have been too irate to notice, he caught site of the lone tear gathering at the corner of her right eye and threatening to spill down upon her cheek.
In the castle, she met a prince who said she was a princess – a princess that he would save.
"And so what," he said coolly. "you figure out what happened. What your name really is. What then? How does that change anything?"
Her glare only hardened as she spat out: "It changes everything."
"What does it change?" he repeated.
"I'll know of my family-"
"Who are all most likely dead," he interrupted smoothly.
"I'll know where my home was-"
"Amongst the ruins of a destroyed Earth from the Gate explosion."
"I may find a way to repay my debts-"
"Any money you find will go straight to the ponies. You won't change."
And Faye reached her breaking point with his sharp negations.
The gallant prince turned out instead to be a toad that disappeared and left a curse upon the poor young woman. A curse she would never rid herself of no matter how hard she tried.
He avoided the punch aimed for the side of his head with ease, along with the white boot that tried to nail him in the stomach. She continued to blindly throw punches, unconcerned with her sloppy form but driven by her desire to hit something.
"You fucking jackass!! LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING!" she cried out, her vision beginning to rapidly blur due to tears. It wasn't until she tasted the salt upon her lips that she really grasped the fact that she was crying. She continued to attack her comrade regardless.
When her fist flung out again for what might have been his shoulder she found herself caught by him again. One arm wrapped tightly around her waist and back pinning her to him, as the other held the still clenched fist, almost as if they were about to dance.
"You can't change," he said calmly into her ear.
"LET ME GO!!" She struggled but he merely increased his grip around her.
"You shouldn't change who you are."
"STOP TELLING ME THIS! I NEED TO KNOW!" Her eyes were closed in attempt to keep any further tears at bay. She didn't want to cry. Not here. Not now. Not with him.
"We don't-" he paused, unsure of what he wanted to disclose to the resistant woman in his arms."...I don't want you to change. So stop it. You're acting like a child."
And all movement ceased.
When her form went limp against his own, he let the trapped hand go, and instead shifted his free hand to the middle of her back to hold her against him.
The princess managed to escape the cold white castle eventually. However, she found herself alone again...
Slowly...her hands came up to tentatively rest upon his shoulder blades as her head dropped to his chest. She could feel the soft cloth of his shirt against her cheek; smell sweat, musk, and his cologne mixed together in his own unique scent; she could hear his dull heart beat, muffled by the layers of muscles, skin and his shirt. She almost could allow herself a momentary feeling of safety and comfort in the arms of her – for lack of a better word - rival.
Although she made no sound, he felt what he assumed to be tears begin to accumulate upon his shirt and seek to reach his skin.
"You don't need to know what happened. It isn't necessary. And you're fine as the person you are now."
The princess could not allow herself to trust anyone else from that point forward. The princess did not need a prince, just a way to remove the curse. So she joined forces with a traveling band of knights who were after their own treasures and goals. She fit right in.
He gradually let his hold on her diminish, until she finally decided to pull away from him, trying to ignore the fact that her face and eyes were most likely red and that his shirt had a rather large wet spot on the front of it now. Refusing to meet his eyes, she simply stared down at the metal floor of the ship. Unwilling to stand for that, he reached out and took hold of her chin, tipping it up to meet his gaze.
"Since you seem so damned concerned about this, I'll help." He smirked at her, but she showed no facial expression of gratitude nor detest. He frowned slightly at the neutrality, but continued anyways. "But, I still don't think you should care so deeply about your past."
His eyes flickered a dark brown in consideration of the situation. Finally, he leaned down and brushed his lips against her temple softly, and then down across her cheek, until he gave her a very soft and gentle kiss to her lips. It was tender affection he had never displayed for her, and made her breath hitch ever so slightly in surprise. He pulled away and dropped his hand from her chin, instead deciding to shove it in his pants pocket as he began walking towards the door, headed for the ship's interior.
The princess and one knight in particular developed a peculiar relationship. They annoyed each other but ultimately, relied on each other in tight situations.
"Oh, and don't ever cry over a guy. They're not worth your tears. Especially not that loser," he laughed softly, deciding it was best to leave her to her own devices.
But the princess had vowed to never trust anyone again.
"Not even you?"
And the knight was not interested in a companion. He still had a dragon to defeat.
He turned to look towards the purple haired vixen, a feeling of mild surprise causing his eyebrows to rise slightly. Her tears had dried, and her eyes sparkled as she stood before him with her hand on her hip, and a coy smile in place. The old Faye had resumed confidant control again, and that mysterious raw emotion he feared earlier, was completely gone – or suppressed. He contemplated her question.
"Especially not me."
She made a clicking noise with her tongue and then sauntered right past him giving a small laugh.
"Good, because I wouldn't waste my time or my tears on you anyway lunkhead."
This caused him to grab his chest and double over in mock despair and pain. "I'm hurt Faye. You cry over that fucking Witney guy, but you wouldn't even shed a tear for me?" He promptly straightened himself. "Perfect, because I wouldn't want your lousy tears anyway you cheat," he teased with a rather smug grin.
But sometimes I wonder…
And as she walked through the doorway, in what seemed to be a moment of déjà vu, "Just don't do anything stupid enough that would give me a reason to cry Spike."
If I should kill the dragon first…
And the door finally slid shut with a deafening hiss in the silent room.
Or try and release the princess from the curse.
But this time, he had made no attempt to stop her.
But no…that's her story to complete. And I have my own story to finish. I don't have time to wake sleeping beauty.
Always Part II: Tiger Eyes is based upon Episode 15 of Cowboy Bebop: My Funny Valentine.
Two parts remain for the cowboy.